money.power.land.solidarity.

We are joined by South Minneapolis neighbor and emergency room doctor in training Jamey Sharp to talk about the financial crisis facing HCMC (Henneppin County Medical Center), which is facing imminent closure if nothing is done. Beyond the accute crisis facing HCMC we discuss the chronic crisis of health care in capitalist America, the interlocking nature of the attacks on health care and education and the power of our community to transform these systems for the better.  Urgent - https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/save-hcmc - sign the petition to save HCMC and contact your state lawmaker this week!   

We continue our coverage of the resistance to Minneapolis Public Schools cuts to staffing and student services in the wake of Operation Metro Surge by focusing in on our powerful and crucial performing arts programs that are on the chopping block. Long time Social Justice Theatre teacher Crystal Spring sat down to talk us through her two decades of work in Minneapolis Public Schools, the power of art and expression, how theatre and culture helped our students through Covid, the George Floyd Uprising and Operation Metro Surge and the devestating cuts to performing arts being proposed by the district.  This episode opens with a clip from South high sophmore Ramsha testifying to the power of her theatre classes at the May 6th day of action for public eduation at the state capital organized by Minneapolis Families for Public Schools.  This episode ends with a poem I (jake) wrote in late February.  UPDATE: Our organizing is making an impact! Last week MPS announced a reversal to all the proposed cuts to the Adult Ed program we talked about two weeks ago, as well as an additional 10 Million to K-12 education that will save some jobs of Education Support Professionals. This is good, but not nearly enough! 

On today's episode we look into the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) as they prepare for the Spring opening of their Gateway Tower in Minneapolis.  Our hearts are with the family and loved ones of Amir Locke.  Please support our work on Patreon  

We are taking a short detour from Season 2's coverage of the Upper Harbor Terminal today to sprinkle in a bonus episode. We were honored to talk with two tenants and organizers with the Alliance of Hornig Tenants, a tenants union fighting for each other and housing justice. We talked about the issues that kick started their organizing, learn about the powerful landlord lobby and generally reflect on the growing tenant's movement. We will continue our housing justice focus next week as we continue Season 2.  Subscribe to the Money Power Land Solidarity Patreon to get access to exclusive material and merch.   

On today's episode we step back to analyze our strategies for creating the structural changes we need in our political economy. The Upper Harbor Terminal project inspired strong resistance that has so far been unable to defeat the Billionaire agenda moving the development. Years of strong mobilization aimed at defunding the MPD have not yet been able to accomplish that goal. How do we learn from these efforts to become more effective? How do we break the cycles of capitalist oppression? How do we organize to exercise power over billionaire developers at city hall and racist police on city streets?  We hope these reflections are useful and would love to hear your thoughts. 

Today we launch Season 2 with a reflection on the core issues of land, labor, wealth and power at play in the Upper Harbor Terminal development. We also re-orient ourselves to the UHT after the George Floyd uprising and set the context for the UHT city council vote coming this fall. Please subscribe, rate and leave a review of the show to help us reach a broader audience for Season 2 and support the show on Patreon. Patreon.com/moneypowerlandsolidarity   The following track was used in this episode, check it out"The Spring (Instrumental)" by Chad Crouch License: CC BY NC (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)